Johanna Konta says she loves playing at Wimbledon and looks forward to returning next year.
Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/Action Plus via Getty Images

Kyle Edmund is the last Brit standing at Wimbledon after last year’s semi-finalist Johanna Konta crashed out, losing in the second round to unseeded Dominika Cibulkova.

Konta, the 22th seed, soared to number four in the world after her impressive run at SW19 last year – the best by a British woman since 1978 – but is now in danger of dropping out of the top 50.

Speaking after the match, she denied her game had regressed since last year, insisting she was simply beaten by “a very good player”.

She said: “I think she [Cibulkova] played very, very well. I didn’t have as much of a say in the match as I would like. I will just keep working on. Whenever I come up against a player who’s playing very well like that [I will] just keep trying to do as much as I can to get in there in any way possible.”

Konta’s performance last year had ignited hopes she could replicate for the women’s game what Andy Murray has done for the men’s game at Wimbledon. Before her run last year, only one British woman had made the second week at SW19 in the ladies’ singles: Laura Robson in 2013. But Konta has had a difficult year, having failed to make the third round at any of the subsequent majors.

During her post-match press conference, she appeared irritated by suggestions that the added expectations had got to her. “I love playing here,” she told reporters. “I will love it next year. I will love it for however many more years I get to play. That is regardless of what external factors or media people say about me because that’s something that’s very much out of my control.”

During the 3-6, 4-6 defeat, the British number one became frustrated with her opponent slapping her thigh in between Konta’s first and second serves to gee herself up, telling the umpire: “My job is to stay focused, your job is to notice these things.” After the match, Konta said the umpire spoke to Cibulkova, who subsequently stopped.

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Cibulkova is ranked 32nd in the world but is unseeded because of the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s decision to grant Serena Williams (ranked 183 in the world) a discretionary seeding on her return to the tournament after having a baby, which was criticised by the Slovakian.

Konta’s defeat on Thursday afternoon followed British wildcard Katie Boulter’s less surprising loss earlier in the day. The 21-year-old, who suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome as a teenager, lost in straight sets to No 18 seed Naomi Osaka in the second round, but her ranking has been going in the opposite direction from Konta’s after she exceeded expectations.

Their defeats left open the prospect there may be no British representative in the second week of either the men’s or ladies’s singles at Wimbledon for the first time since 2007.

If Edmund, who beat Bradley Klahn in straight sets, is to keep the flag flying for the UK in the second week, he faces the considerable obstacle of 12-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic. However, Edmund can draw on the fact he beat Djokovic on clay in Madrid in May.